Ticket and ticket rewriting apparatus

ABSTRACT

A ticket capable of recording visible information so that the information is difficult to erase and a ticket rewriting apparatus capable recording visible information on conditions of use on the ticket are used to prevent the dishonest use of the ticket. The ticket comprises a base, a rewritable displaying device mounted on one surface of the base and an information recording device formed on the other surface of the base and having a magnetic recording layer. The rewritable displaying device comprises a reversible displaying element having a polymer dispersed liquid crystal film (PDLC film) capable of being repeatedly subjected to a visible information recording and a visible information erasing. Information rewriting requires both heat and an electric field for information rewriting. Conditions of use including the time and date of use are recorded on the rewritable displaying device and the information recording device. The ticket rewriting apparatus comprises a device including a charger and electrodes for applying an electric field to the rewritable displaying unit, and a device including a thermal head for applying heat to the rewritable displaying device.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a ticket as a certificate of admissionto transportation facilities, such as a commuter ticket or a book oftickets, and, more specifically, to a ticket that allows repetitivewriting of the contents of information to be displayed thereon, and aticket rewriting apparatus for rewriting the contents of information tobe displayed on the ticket.

BACKGROUND ART

A ticket provided with a magnetic recording layer has prevalently beenused, and a person using a commuter ticket puts the commuter ticket inan automatic ticket examining machine to gain admission to pass a ticketbarrier. In some cases, a commuter ticket is used dishonestly to steal atrain ride from a starting station outside a section specified on thecommuter ticket to a destination in the specified section by using aticket to gain admission to transport facilities at the starting stationand using the commuter ticket to gain admission to leave transportationfacilities at the destination without paying for the middle part of thejourney. Such dishonest use of a commuter ticket can be detected somehowby recording the time and date of entrance as an evidence for the use ofthe commuter ticket at the starting station by the automatic ticketexamining machine, inspecting the commuter ticket to see whether or notthe time and date of entrance is recorded on the commuter ticket, andcomparing the time and date of entrance with the time and date of exit.

However, if the user of the commuter ticket passes a ticket barrierwhere the station staff inspect the commuter ticket visually, it isdifficult to detect the dishonest use of the commuter ticket and it isimpossible to prevent surely the dishonest use of the commuter ticket.

Accordingly, there has been a demand for a ticket that enables automaticticket examination and visual ticket examination to prevent thedishonest use thereof, and for a recording means for printing visuallyrecognizable information indicating conditions of use including the dateof use on a ticket to be used repeatedly, such as a commuter ticket,every time the ticket is used.

Various reversible displaying elements to which visible information isrewritable have been proposed. Mode of display of those reversibledisplaying elements changes when energy is applied temporarily to thosereversible displaying elements by an external energy source, and thedisplayed information is held after energy has been removed to maintaina recording state. Thus, these reversible displaying elements utilize adisplayed information storing property.

For example, one of the previously proposed reversible displayingelements employs a polymer-fatty-acid film of a material prepared bydispersing a fatty acid in a polymer matrix to utilize the properties ofthe fatty acid that changes between a white, opaque phase and atransparent phase. Another previously proposed reversible displayingelement utilizes the reversible opening and closing of lactone rings ofa leuco dye by a developer/subtracter agent. A third previously proposedreversible displaying element employs a polymer liquid crystal.

When those known reversible displaying elements are applied to a ticket,information can be written to the polymer-fatty-acid film at arelatively high processing speed; however, the possible number of cyclesof high-speed writing process (for example, a writing process at aprocessing speed of several milliseconds using a thermal head) is assmall as about fifty. Since the reversible displaying element employingthe polymer-fatty-acid film uses white opaqueness as a light-scatteringstate and specular reflection as a transparent state, the reversibledisplaying element is inferior in the visibility of displayedinformation. The reversible displaying element employing the leuco dyeor the polymer liquid crystal requires several seconds for erasing andis not satisfactory in the number of cycles of rewriting process.

Furthermore, since those known reversible displaying elements carry outboth visible information printing (recording) and visible informationerasing in a heat-heat mode in which heat is used for both visibleinformation printing and visible information erasing, displayedcharacters are easy to alter dishonestly when the those known reversibledisplaying elements are employed in a ticket.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide aticket as a certificate of admission to transport facilities, such as acommuter ticket, employing a reversible displaying element that enableshigh-speed rewriting process, is capable of enduring a large number ofcycles of rewriting process and makes dishonest alteration difficult,and a ticket rewriting apparatus for rewriting the contents ofinformation to be displayed to the ticket.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

With the foregoing object in view, according to a first aspect of thepresent invention, a ticket comprises: a base; an information recordingdevice mounted on the base and capable of recording invisibleinformation; and a rewritable displaying device mounted on the base andcapable of being repeatedly subjected to a visible information recordingand a visible information erasing, wherein the rewritable displayingdevice is provided with a reversible displaying element which is changedfrom one of a recording state and an erasing state to the other by theagency of an electric field and from the latter state to the formerstate by the agency of heat.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the reversibledisplaying element of the ticket is changed from a recording state to anerasing state by the agency of an electric field.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the reversibledisplaying element of the ticket includes a polymer dispersed liquidcrystal film.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a liquid crystalphase of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal film of the ticketcontains a dichroic dye that assumes a displaying state by theguest-host effect.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the reversibledisplaying element of the ticket further comprises a conductive layerunderlying the polymer dispersed liquid crystal film, and a protectivelayer overlying the polymer dispersed liquid crystal film.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the informationrecording device of the ticket comprises a magnetic recording layer.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the informationrecording device of the ticket is formed on one of the surfaces of thebase, and the rewritable displaying device of the same is formed on theother surface of the base.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the informationrecording device is formed in the entire area of one of the surfaces ofthe base, and the rewritable displaying device of the same is formed ina portion of the other surface of the base.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, a ticket rewritingapparatus for writing information to and erasing information written toa ticket comprising a base, an information recording device mounted onthe base and capable of recording invisible information, and arewritable displaying device mounted on the base and capable ofrepeatedly subjected to a visible information recording cycle and avisible information erasing cycle, wherein the rewritable displayingdevice is provided with a reversible displaying element which is changedfrom one of a recording state and an erasing state to the other by theagency of an electric field and from the latter state to the formerstate by the agency of heat, comprises an electric field applying meansfor applying an electric field to the rewritable displaying device tochange a displaying state of the rewritable displaying device, and aheating means for applying heat to the rewritable displaying device tochange another displaying state of the rewritable displaying device.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, the electric fieldapplying means sets the rewritable displaying device in an erasingstate, and the heating means sets the rewritable displaying device in arecording state.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, the ticketrewriting apparatus further comprises a recording-reading-erasing meansfor recording information on, reading information from and erasinginformation from the information recording device.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, the electricfield applying means of the ticket rewriting apparatus has electrodes tobe brought into contact with the surface of a ticket to charge theticket at a ground potential, and the electrodes serve also as therecording-reading-erasing means for recording information on, readinginformation from and erasing information from the information recordingdevice.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, invisibleinformation is recorded on the information recording device, and visibleinformation can be repeatedly recorded on and erased from the rewritabledisplaying device employing the reversible displaying element. Arecording operation for recording information on the rewritabledisplaying device uses the former or the latter of heat and an electricfield, and an erasing operation for erasing information from therewritable displaying device uses the latter or the former of heat andan electric field. Thus, recording and erasing use different processingmeans, respectively, and both different kinds of external energy, i.e.,heat and an electric field, are used when erasing recorded visibleinformation and recording new visible information.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, visibleinformation is recorded, i.e., visible information is rewritten, by theagency of an electric field.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the reversibledisplaying element comprises a polymer dispersed liquid crystal filmwith an excellent performance.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the guest-hosteffect of the dichroic dye improves the contrast of informationdisplayed on the rewritable displaying device.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the reversibledisplay element employs the conductive layer, and the protective layerprotects the reversible displaying element.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the informationrecording device comprises the magnetic recording layer on whichinformation can be recorded and from which information can be erased bythe agency of a magnetic field.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, theinformation recording device and the rewritable displaying device areexactly separated from each other and a large amount of information canbe recorded.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, the rewritabledisplaying device can be disposed at a desired position on the base.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, in the tickethaving the information recording device capable of recording invisibleinformation, and the reversible displaying element on which visibleinformation is recorded and from which visible information is erased,the rewritable displaying device is changed from one of a recordingstate and an erasing state to the other by the electric field applyingmeans, and the rewritable displaying device is changed from one of arecording state and an erasing state set by the electric field applyingmeans to the other by the heating means.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, informationrecorded on the rewritable displaying device is erased by an electricfield, and information is recorded on the rewritable displaying deviceby heat.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, therecording, reading and erasing means records invisible information on,reads information recorded on and erases information from theinformation recording device.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, a magnetichead, for instance, serves as the recording, reading and erasing meansfor recording information on, reading information recorded on anderasing information from the information recording device, and asgrounding electrode for the electric field applying means for applyingan electric field to the rewritable displaying device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a ticket (one of a book of tickets) in apreferred embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a ticket (commuter ticket) in anotherembodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a ticket (stored fare card) in a furtherembodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the ticket of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the ticket of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a ticket in still a furtherembodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the construction of a ticketrewriting apparatus for processing a ticket in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic view of an information rewriting unit includedin the ticket rewriting apparatus of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of an electric field applying unit included inthe ticket rewriting apparatus.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Tickets and a ticket rewriting apparatus embodying the present inventionwill be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of one of a book of tickets in a preferredembodiment according to the present invention to gain admission totransport facilities, such as a train. Referring to FIG. 1, a ticket 1has an information recording portion or device 4 comprising a magneticrecording layer forming the entire back surface of the ticket 1, and arewritable displaying portion or device 3 forming a portion of the frontsurface of the ticket 1. Since the ticket shown in FIG. 1 is valid for aspecified train section, permanent visible information 5 including thespecified train section, fare and such is recorded on the front surfacesof the tickets by a known means, such as printing. Data indicatingconditions of use including the starting station, the time and date ofentrance and such is recorded and displayed on the rewritable displayingportion 3. The data indicating conditions of use is recorded also on theinformation recording portion 4 on the backside of the ticket 1.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a ticket in another embodiment according tothe present invention in the form of a commuter ticket for gainingadmission to transport facilities, such as a train. Referring to FIG. 2,a ticket 1 has an information recording portion 4 comprising a magneticrecording layer forming the entire back surface of the ticket 1, and arewritable displaying portion 3 forming a portion of the front surfaceof the ticket 1. Permanent visible information 5 including a specifiedtrain section, the term of validity, the name of the user and such isrecorded on the front surfaces of the tickets by a known means, such asprinting. Data indicating conditions of use including the startingstation, the time and date of entrance and such is recorded anddisplayed on the rewritable displaying portion 3. The data indicatingconditions of use is recorded also on the information recording portion4 on the backside of the ticket 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a ticket in a further embodiment accordingto the present in the form of a stored fare card, i.e., a kind ofprepaid card. Referring to FIG. 3, a ticket 1 has an informationrecording portion 4 comprising magnetic recording layers forming theentire front and the entire back surface of the ticket 1, and arewritable displaying portion 3 overlying the information recordingportion 4. Condition of use including the starting station, the time anddate of entrance and such are recorded and displayed on the rewritabledisplaying portion 3. The conditions of use are recorded also on theinformation recording portion 4.

Tickets in accordance with the present invention are not limited to theforegoing embodiments and may be embodied in various forms; for example,the rewritable displaying portion 3 may form the entire front surface ofthe ticket, and the information recording portion 4 may form the entireback surface of the ticket. There is no particular restriction on thesize of the ticket; the ticket may be formed in an appropriate sizeaccording to purposes.

A reversible displaying element capable of being used as the rewritabledisplaying portion for a ticket will be described hereinafter.

A reversible displaying element to be applied to a ticket in accordancewith the invention needs both heat and an electric field for rewriting,which makes the dishonest alteration of information displayed on theticket difficult.

A liquid crystal displaying element employing a polymer dispersed liquidcrystal film (hereinafter referred to as "PDLC film") formed bydispersing a smectic liquid crystal or the like in a polymer matrix is apossible reversible displaying element.

The principle of recording visible information on and erasing visibleinformation from the PDLC film uses light scattering and lighttransmission (change in the light absorptive power when a dichroic dyeis used in combination with the liquid crystal and guest-host effect isavailable) due to the orderly change of the orientation of the liquidcrystal molecules (change between a homeotropic orientation state or ahomogeneous orientation state, and a random orientation state) by heatand an electric field (heat-electric field mode). When an opaque state(light scattering state) is used as a recording state, and a transparentstate (light transmitting state) is used as an erasing state,information can be written to the PDLC film with a heating means, suchas a thermal head capable of spot-heating, and information can be erasedfrom the PDLC film by holding the PDLC film, for instance, betweenelectrodes and applying an electric field of an intensity exceeding athreshold for orienting the liquid crystal.

The PDLC film, as compared with the aforesaid conventional reversibledisplaying elements to which information is written and from whichinformation is erased by a heat-heat mode, has an excellent performanceoptimum for tickets. The PDLC film has an ability to enable quickwriting because the orientation state can quickly be established in atime on the order of microseconds by the application of an electricfield, and withstands a sufficiently large number of writing cycles, andis capable of displaying information in a satisfactory visibility when adichroic dye is used in combination. Since too kinds of external energyare necessary for rewriting, the dishonest alteration of informationdisplayed on the PDLC film is difficult, information displayed on thePDLC film is hardly caused to fade away by natural environmentalconditions and hence the PDLC film is able to display information withhigh reliability.

A PDLC film proposed in, for instance, JP-A No. 4-71899 may be employed.A PDLC film employing a microcapsulated liquid crystal has excellentproperties such that the liquid crystal does not exude because theliquid crystal is sealed in microcapsules. Films proposed by theapplicant of the present patent application in JP-A Nos. 5-301489,6-33283, 6-44735 and 6-119702 may be used.

Suitable polymers for use as the polymer matrix binding the liquidcrystal dispersed therein to form the PDLC film are, for example, vinylchloride resins, such as a vinyl chloride resin and avinyl-chloride-vinyl-acetate copolymer, vinylidene chloride resins,acrylic resins, such as a polymethacrylate resin and anacrylate-methacrylate copolymer, polyvinyl alcohol resins, polycarbonateresins, polyester resins, epoxy resins, polyamide resins, polyurethaneresins, polythiol resins, and a radiation-setting resin that sets whenexposed to ultraviolet rays or electron rays or the like.

The liquid crystal employed in the PDLC film may be a smectic liquidcrystal, a nematic liquid crystal, a cholesteric liquid crystal, apolymer liquid crystal or a mixture of some of those liquid crystals.The visibility can be improved by mixing the liquid crystal with anappropriate amount of a dichroic dye to enhance the displaying contrastby the guest-host effect.

The liquid crystal can be dispersed in the polymer matrix by any one ofa phase separation method, an emulsion method, a microcapsule method, asolvent evaporation method and a suspension polymerization method. Amongthose methods, a emulsion method and a microcapsule method are mostpreferable because those methods prevent the liquid crystal fromexuding. The microcapsule method improves the durability of thedispersed liquid crystal particles. A microcapsule method using an insitu polymerization process is able to form the PDLC film containingliquid crystal particles of 10 μm or below in particle size, which issuitable for forming the PDLC film in a practically appropriatethickness and for securing a satisfactory display quality.

Generally, the thickness of the PDLC film is in the range of about 3 toabout 23 μm. The lower limit thickness of the PDLC film is dependent onthe displaying contrast and the upper limit thickness of the same isdependent on a practical driving voltage necessary for setting theliquid crystal of the PDLC film in an oriented state.

The layered structure of a liquid crystal displaying element, i.e., thereversible displaying element, comprises at least the PDLC film and anelectric field applying means for applying an electric fieldperpendicularly to the PDLC film. Although the electric field applyingmeans may comprise electrodes for holding the PDLC film therebetween,the electric field applying means may comprise only a back electrode,and an external electrode may be employed as a front electrode to applyan electric field to optional portions of the PDLC film. Therefore, thereversible displaying element comprises, at least, a base sheet, i.e., asubstrate, an electrode, i.e., a conductive layer, and a PDLC film. Aprotective layer may be formed on the PDLC film when necessary.

The construction of the ticket of the present invention provided withthe reversible displaying element will be described in detailhereinafter.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the ticket 1 of a layeredconstruction of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the ticket 1has a base 2, a rewritable displaying portion 3 formed on the frontsurface, i.e., an upper surface as viewed in FIG. 4, of the base 2 so asto cover the front surface of the base 2 entirely, and an informationrecording portion 4 comprising a magnetic recording layer 41 formed onthe back surface of the base 2 so as to cover the back surface entirely.A construction shown in FIG. 4 is a basic construction having therewritable displaying portion 3 and the information recording portion 4forming the entire surfaces of the ticket 1. In a construction shown inFIG. 5, the writable displaying portion 3 is formed in a portion of asurface of a base 2 of a ticket 1. Thus, the rewritable displayingportion 3 is formed so as to cover the entire area or a portion of thesurface of the base 2. The component layers of the rewritable displayingportion 3 are formed by a coating method or a printing method when therewritable displaying portion 3 is formed so as to cover the entire areaof the base 2, or formed by a printing method or a transfer method whenthe same is formed in a portion of the surface of the base 2.

The rewritable displaying portion 3 of each of the tickets 1 shown inFIGS. 4 and 5 has a PDLC film 31. The rewritable displaying portion 3 isa reversible displaying element comprising a conductive layer 32, thePDLC film 31 and a protective layer 33 stacked in layers in that order.The protective layer 33 of the ticket shown in FIG. 5 is formed so as tocover the side surfaces of the PDLC film 31 and the conductive layer 32.Permanent visible information 5 is recorded by printing or the like in aportion of the surface of the base 2 not covered with the rewritabledisplaying portion 3.

An intermediate layer 34 may be formed between the PDLC film 31 and theprotective layer 33, and an adhesive layer 35 may be formed between thePDLC film 31 and the conductive layer 32 as shown in FIG. 6. Theintermediate layer 34 protects the PDLC film 31 from damage when formingthe protective layer 33 by a coating method or the like, and theadhesive layer 35 improves the adhesion of the PDLC film 31 to theconductive layer 32.

The base 2 may be a sheet or a plate of a polyester resin, such aspolyethylene terephthalate, a vinyl chloride resin, such as a polyvinylchloride, an olefin resin, such as polypropylene, an acrylic resin, suchas methyl polymethacrylate, a styrene resin, such as polystyrene, acellulose resin, such as cellulose triacetate; a paper sheet, such as acoated paper sheet, a synthetic paper sheet, a metal foil, a ceramicsheet or a composite sheet or plate of some of those materials. Thethickness of the base 2 is determined according to purposes and is inthe range of about 50 to about 1000 μm. Normally, the base 2 is aninsulating sheet. The base 2 may be formed of a material having anappropriate electric conductivity and the conductive layer may beomitted.

The surface of the base 2 may be treated to improve adhesion between thebase 2 and the conductive layer 32 or the magnetic recording layer 41 bya known surface treatment, such as a corona treatment or a primmertreatment with a silane coupling agent or a urethane resin.

The conductive layer 32 may be formed of a semiconductor having anelectric conductivity that enables the conductive layer 32 to serve as ahorizontal electrode to apply an electric field perpendicularly to thePDLC film 31, for example, a semiconductor having a sheet resistivity of10¹² Ω/sq. or below. However, in view of suppressing voltage loss, it ispreferable that the conductive layer 32 has a high electricconductivity. The conductive layer 32 may be, for example, an evaporatedmetal film or a metal foil of aluminum or the like, a transparentconductive film, such as an ITO film, or a conductive paint filmcontaining carbon black or the like. When the magnetic recording layer41 is formed on the front surface of the base 2 and the conductive layer32 is formed on the magnetic recording layer 41, the conductive layer 32is a film having a masking property, such as a film of a white,conductive paint, aluminum paste or evaporated aluminum. When theconductive layer 32 overlies the magnetic recording layer 41, theconductive layer 32 is formed in a thickness that will not hinderoperations to record information on and reading information from themagnetic recording layer 41.

As mentioned above, the base 2 is a insulating resin or paper sheet. Ifthe resin or paper sheet has a required conductivity (volume resistanceof 10⁸ Ω or below at the thickness of the base), the base 2 may servealso as the conductive layer 32, and a magnetic field can be appliedthrough the front and the back surface of the ticket 1 through the base2.

The protective layer 33 protects the PDLC film 31 from pressure,external force and the ambient conditions and enhances the resistance ofthe PDLC film 31 against heat, abrasion and scratching actions exertedthereon by a thermal head and such included in a ticket rewritingapparatus. The protective layer 33 may be a film of a hardenable resin,such as a thermosetting resin or a radiation-setting resin that hardenswhen exposed to ultra-violet rays or electron rays. The protective layer33 is formed by spreading a material containing the aforesaid resin oran ink, and additives including a surface lubricant, such as wax, overpart of or the entire surface of the PDLC film 31. The thickness of theprotective layer 33 is in the range of about 0.5 to about 10 μm. Theprotective layer 35 may be formed so as to cover the PDLC film 31 orareas excluding an area in which the PDLC film 31 is formed and the sidesurfaces of the PDLC film 31, i.e., areas other than that in which therewritable displaying device 3 is formed, for example, the surface ofthe conductive layer 32, the surface of the permanent visibleinformation or the entire area of the surface of the base 2. When theprotective film 33 is formed so as to cover the surface of the base 2entirely, the protective film 33 is formed of a resin, such as apolyethylene terephthalate.

When forming the protective layer 33 by spreading a dope, the protectivelayer 33 may be formed over the intermediate layer 34 formed byspreading a dope that may not affect the liquid crystal adversely. Theintermediate layer 34 serves as a barrier layer that then prevents thepermeation of the solvent contained in the dope into the PDLC film 33and the deterioration of the liquid crystal orienting performance of thePDLC film 31. The intermediate layer 34 is formed by spreading anaqueous solution of a water-soluble resin, such as polyvinyl alcohol,polyvinyl pyrrolidone, carboxymethyl cellulose or starch. The thicknessof the intermediate layer 34 is in the range of about 0.5 to about 10μm. The thicknesses of the protective layer 33 and the intermediatelayer 34 are determined so that an excessively high voltage is notnecessary for electric field application.

The intermediate layer 34 increases the degree of freedom in selectingthe resin for forming the protective layer 333. For example, theprotective layer 35 of a radiation-setting resin, such as a softurethane acrylate, is excellent in heat resistance, abrasion resistance,scratch resistance, touch to a thermal head and cushioning performance.

The information recording portion 4 may comprise, for instance, amagnetic recording layer 41 for magnetic recording. The magneticrecording layer 41 may be a film of a mixture of a resin as a binder,and magnetic powder, or a magnetic film formed by vacuum evaporation orsputtering. Normally, the thickness of the magnetic recording layer 41of a mixture of a binding resin and magnetic powder is in the range ofabout 5 to about 10 μm. The magnetic recording layer 41 may contain aconductive substance, such as carbon black, to use the magneticrecording layer 41 also as a conductive layer for the reversibledisplaying element. Therefore, the magnetic recording layer 41 may beformed at a place other than the back surface of the base 2. Forexample, the magnetic recording layer 41 may underlie the reversibledisplaying element serving as the rewritable displaying portion 3 on thefront surface of the base 2. When the magnetic recording layer 41 isformed on the side of the front surface of the base 2, the magneticrecording layer 41 overlies or underlies the conductive layer 31 or mayserve also as the conductive layer 32. The magnetic recording layer 41may be disposed so a not to overlap the rewritable displaying portion 3.

The information recording portion 4 may be of any type provided that theinformation recording portion 4 is able to record information in aninvisible state. When the ticket 1 is as thick as a plastic card, anoptical storage device or a semiconductor storage device may be formedon the surface or the interior of the base 2.

A ticket rewriting apparatus in accordance with the present inventionwill be described hereinafter as applied to the foregoing ticket 1 ofthe present invention having the rewritable displaying portion 3comprising the PDLC film 31 by way of example on an assumption that therewritable displaying portion 3 is set in an erasing state by anelectric field and in a recording state by heat.

Referring to FIG. 7 schematically showing a ticket rewriting apparatus100 in a preferred embodiment according to the present invention, theticket rewriting apparatus 100 is designed for use as an automaticticket examining machine to be installed at a railroad station. Theticket rewriting apparatus 100 comprises, as principal components, aticket receiving-aligning unit 110, a magnetic recording-reading-writingunit 120, an information rewriting unit 130 and an ejecting-recoveringunit 140. The ticket rewriting apparatus 100 further comprises aconveying mechanism including ticket conveyor belts 151 for conveying aticket, and a controller 200, such as a CPU, for controlling the generaloperations of the ticket rewriting apparatus 100. The components of theticket rewriting apparatus 100, excluding the information rewriting unit130, may be similar to those of a known automatic ticket examiningmachine.

When a ticket 1 is deposited in the ticket rewriting apparatus 100, theconveying mechanism including the ticket conveyor belts 151 conveys theticket 1 to the ticket receiving-aligning unit 110 to align the ticket 1by an aligning mechanism 111. Subsequently, the ticket 1 is delivered tothe magnetic recording-reading-writing unit 120 comprising magneticrecording heads 121, magnetic writing heads 122 and magnetic readingheads 123. The magnetic recording-reading-writing unit 120 writesinformation to or read information from the information recordingportion 4 of the ticket 1, and examines the ticket 1 by the magneticreading head 123 to see whether or not information is written to theticket 1. Since two sets each of the magnetic heads 121, 122 and 123 aredisposed on the opposite sides of a path of the ticket 1, the ticket 1may be deposited in the ticket receiving-aligning unit 110 either withthe front surface of the ticket 1 facing up or with the same facingdown.

Then, the ticket 1 is delivered to the information writing unit 130.When it is found that the ticket 1 is in an inverted position by themagnetic recording-reading-writing unit 120, the ticket 1 is inverted byan inverting mechanism 152 so that the front surface will face anelectric field applying device including a charger 131 and groundingrollers 132, and a heating device including a thermal head 133. When theticket 1 is a simple train ticket not provided with the rewritabledisplaying device 3 and not requiring rewriting, the ticket 1 isconveyed by the conveyor belts 151a to skip over erasing and printingprocesses.

The information rewriting unit 130 applies an electric field to thereversible displaying element of the rewritable displaying device 3 bythe electric field applying device including the charger 131 to be keptseparated from the ticket 1, and the grounding rollers 132 to come intocontact with the ticket 1 to erase information from the rewritabledisplaying portion 3. Then, necessary information is recorded andprinted in characters and the like on the ticket 1 by the heating deviceprovided with a thermal head 133. If the electric field applying deviceincluding the electric field applying device including the charger 131and the grounding rollers 132, and the heating device provided with thethermal head 133 are disposed on each of the opposite sides of the passof the ticket 1, the ticket inverting mechanism may be omitted.

Then, the ticket 1 is delivered to the ejecting-recovering unit 140. Theejecting-recovering unit 140 recovers the ticket 1 and sends the same toa recovery box 141 if the validity of the ticket 1 is expired or theticket 1 is identified as a dishonestly used one or ejects the ticket 1through an ejecting slot if the ticket 1 is normal to complete a seriesof rewriting operations.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show an essential portion of the information rewritingunit 130 shown in FIG. 7 in an enlarged view and an enlarged bottom planview, respectively. As shown in FIG. 8, a power supply 134 applies apredetermined voltage to the charger 131, and platen rollers 135 aredisposed opposite to the grounding rollers 132 and the thermal head 133to bring the ticket 1 surely into contact with the grounding rollers 132and the thermal head 133. The ticket 1 is conveyed by the conveyor belts151, information is erased by voltage application and information isrecorded by heat application. Referring to FIG. 9, the charger 131 is acorona charger internally provided with a tungsten wire connected to thepower supply 134. The grounding rollers 132 and the power supply aregrounded. A potential difference appears across the surface of theticket 1 charged by the charger 131 and the other surface of the ticket1 in contact with the grounding rollers 132 to apply an electric fieldperpendicularly to the reversible displaying element.

The charger 131 may be a known charger, such as a corotron charger or ascorotron charger. The grounding rollers 132 may be metal rollers,plastic or rubber rollers containing a conductive material, such ascarbon black. Elastic grounding rollers, such as rubber groundingrollers, are preferable because of their satisfactory contactcapability. The thermal head 133 may be a heating means that uses thethermal energy produced by a laser.

The information rewriting unit 130 of the ticket rewriting apparatus 100of the present invention comprises at least the electric field applyingdevice including the charger 131 and the grounding rollers 132, and theheating means including the thermal head 133 to change the informationdisplayed on the rewritable displaying portion 3 of the ticket 1. Theelectric field applying device including the charger 131 and thegrounding rollers 132, and the heating means including the thermal head133 may be used for either the recording state or the erasing state,recorded information will not be erased by heat that may be applied tothe ticket 1 in the natural environment when the electric field applyingincluding the charger 131 and the grounding rollers 132 are used for theerasing state, so that information can be handled with high reliability.When the ticket rewriting apparatus 100 is provided with the magneticrecording-reading-writing unit 120 capable of recording information onand erasing information from the information recording portion 4,processes for processing the rewritable displaying portion 3 and theinformation recording portion 4 can be completed. When the magneticrecording-reading-writing unit 120 and the information rewriting unit130 are not formed in separate, individual units, and the functions ofthe grounding rollers 132, i.e., grounding electrodes, of theinformation rewriting unit 130 are carried out by the magnetic heads121, 122 and 123, the ticket rewriting apparatus 100 can be formed in asmaller construction. Since the ticket rewriting apparatus 100 iscapable of recording information on conditions of use on both theinformation recording portion 4 and the rewritable displaying portion 3.Consequently, the information must be erased from both the informationrecording portion 4 and the rewritable displaying portion 3 to alter theinformation dishonestly, which is very difficult and hence a dishonesttrain ride without paying for the middle part of the journey can beprevented regardless of the confirmation of the visible information bythe station staff.

When the information recording portion 4 of the ticket 1 is providedwith an information storage means other than the magnetic recordinglayer 41, such as an optical storage device or an IC storage device, theticket rewriting apparatus 100 may be provided with a reading-writingunit of a system conforming to the information read-write system of aninformation storage means employed in the information recording portion4.

Although the foregoing ticket rewriting apparatus 100 of the presentinvention has been described as applied to an automatic ticket examiningmachine to be installed at a railroad station, the present invention maybe embodied in a ticket rewriting apparatus provided with onlycomponents essential to erasing information from and printinginformation on the rewritable displaying portion 3 of the ticket 1, anautomatic fare adjusting machine or an automatic ticket selling machine.

Various electric field applying methods other than that used by theelectric field applying device including the charger 131 and thegrounding rollers 132 of the information rewriting unit 130. Forexample, the present invention may employ any one of a method ofapplying an electric field to the PDLC film 31 proposed in JapanesePatent Application No. 6-103249 filed by the applicant of the presentinvention, and methods of applying an electric field to the PDLC film 31proposed in "Method of Orienting Liquid Crystal in Liquid CrystalDisplaying Medium and Liquid Crystal Orienting Apparatus" (chargingsystem) and "Method of Orienting Liquid Crystal in Liquid CrystalDisplaying Medium and Liquid Crystal Orienting Apparatus" (electrodesystem) filed Nov. 14, 1994.

Those electric field applying systems can be classified by variousattributes; into a noncontact system and a contact system, a chargingsystem and an electrode system, parallel electrode system that creates apotential difference from one side of the PDLC film and opposed systemthat creates a potential difference from the opposite sides of the PDLCfilm, or combinations of those systems. A method of a suitable systemmay selectively be employed according to the physical properties of aticket to be dealt with. Incidentally, the electric field means shown inFIG. 7 is of a parallel system, i.e., a combination of a charging system(noncontact system) and an electrode system (contact system). The numberof chargers or electrodes is dependent on desired conditions.

For example, in the electrode-charger-electrode arrangement of theelectric field applying device including the three electric fieldapplying device including the charger 131 and the grounding rollers 132shown in FIG. 7, a combined electrode-contact-opposed system isestablished when the charger 131 disposed at the middle is substitutedby an electrode that is not grounded and gives a potential to the PDLCfilm 31. A combined charging-noncontact-opposed system is establishedwhen the grounding rollers (electrodes) 132 on the opposite sides of thecharger 131 are substituted by chargers. An electric field applyingdevice comprising two components, i.e., a charger 131 and an electrodes132, electrodes 132, or chargers 131, may be employed. Naturally, ineither arrangement, the adjacent electrodes 132 or the adjacent chargers131 are charged at different potentials, such as, a ground potential anda positive or negative potential, or a positive potential and a negativepotential, respectively. Various other systems and arrangementsincluding an opposed system in which the electrodes 132 or the chargers131 are disposed on the opposite sides of the ticket 1.

An electric field may be applied to the entire displaying area of therewritable displaying portion 3 when the information recorded on therewritable displaying portion 3 may entirely be erased. When thedisplaying area of the rewritable displaying portion 3 is divided intosections or linear sections, an electric field is applied only tosections or linear sections in which pieces of information to be erasedis recorded. For example, when the displaying area of the rewritabledisplaying portion 3 is divided into linear sections perpendicular tothe traveling direction of the ticket 1, an electric field is createdonly when a linear section in which a piece of information to be erasedcoincides with the electrode 132 or the charger 131 for partial erasing.When the displaying area is divided in smaller sections and pieces ofinformation in those sections are to be erased selectively for partialerasing, respective potentials of transversely or longitudinallyarranged linear contact electrodes or contact electrodes arranged in amatrix are controlled for partial erasing.

Suppose that the rewritable displaying portion 3 is divided into m linesand the n-th (n≦m) line is to be erased. Then, control informationrequiring erasing the n-th line is stored in the information recordingportion 4, the control information is read and a portion of therewritable displaying portion 3 corresponding to the n-th line iserased. When the rewritable displaying portion 3 is formed over theentire or part of the surface of the ticket and information recorded ina specified area of the rewritable displaying portion 3, the arrival ofthe leading edge of the ticket at the inlet of the information rewritingunit 130 is detected by the agency of an infrared beam or the like, andthen the charger 131 is actuated for a predetermined time after thedetection of the leading edge of the ticket.

The operation of the information rewriting unit 130 of the ticketrewriting apparatus 100 in accordance with the present invention is notunstabilized by residual heat, which occurs when an erasing position anda recording position are close to each other for erasing-and-recordingoperation in a heat-heat mode, and hence the erasing position and therecording position may be close to each other to miniaturize the ticketrewriting apparatus 100.

The present invention will further be described in connection withconcrete examples thereof.

EXAMPLE 1

Ticket (Book of Tickets)

A 5 μm thick magnetic recording layer 41 was formed by applying amagnetic dope containing iron oxide, i.e., a magnetic material, by a barcoating process on one surface of a 188 μm thick white polyethyleneterephthalate film which serves as a base 2. A 3 μm thick adhesive layer35, a 2 μm thick conductive layer 32, a 3 μm thick intermediate layer34, a 7 μm thick PDLC film 31, a 1 μm thick adhesive layer 35 and a 3 μmthick protective layer 33 were formed in that order in an area on theother surface of the base 2 by a thermal transfer process to construct arewritable displaying portion 3. Then, a white layer and a pattern layerwere formed by printing in areas other than that covered by therewritable displaying portion 3 by a thermal transfer process. Then, thewhite polyethylene terephthalate film was punched to obtain one of abook of tickets 1 of a required size each provided over the entire backsurface thereof with the information recording portion 4 as shown inFIG. 1.

A transfer foil for the thermal transfer process was formed bysequentially forming the protective layer 33 of a ultraviolet settingresin, the adhesive layer 35 of a synthetic resin, the PDLC film 31similar to that of the first embodiment, the intermediate layer 34 ofpolyvinyl alcohol, the conductive layer 32 of a conductive dope preparedby dispersing ITO powder in an acrylic resin, and the adhesive layer 35of a thermosensitive adhesive in that order by coating processes overthe entire surface of a polyethylene terephthalate film coated with asurface lubricant as a released seat.

The PDLC film 31 contains, as principal components, the followingmaterials including a liquid crystal and a dichroic dye. The liquidcrystal is in an irregularly oriented state for a recording state, andthe same is in a vertically oriented state for an erasing state. Thedichroic dye becomes black for a recording state and becomes transparentfor an erasing state.

PDLC Film

The PDLC film was formed by spreading a microcapsulated dispersedcoating liquid prepared by dispersing a liquid crystal (and a dichroicdye) by an in situ polymerizing method using an ultrasonic dispersionprocess.

Smectic liquid crystal: S-6, Merck Japan Co.

Dichroic dye: S-428, Mitsui Toatsu Kagaku K.K.

Microcapsules: In situ polymerized methylmethacrylate

Protective colloid/polymer matrix: Polyvinyl alcohol KP-06, Nippon GoseiKagaku Kogyo K.K.

Thickener/Matrix: Polyvinyl alcohol KH-20, Nippon Gosei Kagaku KogyoK.K.

Liquid crystal/Matrix Ratio: 1/1

EXAMPLE 2

Ticket (Commuter Ticket)

A magnetic recording layer 41 and a rewritable displaying portion 3similar to those of Example 1 were formed by the same process as thoseemployed in Example 1. The white polyethylene terephthalate film waspunched to obtain a commuter ticket 1 of 85 mm by 54 mm having the shapeof a card and provided with a rewritable displaying portion 3 in part ofthe surface thereof and an information recording portion 4 forming theentire back surface thereof as shown in FIG. 2.

EXAMPLE 3

Ticket (Stored Fare Cart)

A 5 μm thick magnetic recording layer 41 over the entire area of onesurface of a white polyethylene terephthalate film which serves as abase 2, a 2 μm thick conductive layer 32 entirely covering the magneticrecording layer 41, a 7 μm PDLC film 31 entirely covering the conductivelayer 32, and 2 μm thick protective layer 33 entirely covering the PDLCfilm 31 were formed sequentially in that order by bar coating processes.Materials of those component layers were the same as those of thecorresponding component layers of Example 1. The white polyethyleneterephthalate film provided with those component layers was punched toobtain a ticket, i.e., a stored fare card, of 85 mm by 54 mm providedwith a rewritable displaying portion 3 and a magnetic recording element41 underlying the rewritable displaying device 3 on one surface thereofas shown in FIG. 3. Five pieces of data on the histories of five timesof use can simultaneously be displayed in five lines, respectively, onthe rewritable displaying portion 3. Each piece of data on the historyof each time of use is recorded every time the ticket is used, and theoldest one of the five pieces of data is rewritten when recording anadditional piece of data.

EXAMPLE 4

Ticket Rewriting Apparatus

A ticket rewriting apparatus 100 of the present invention as shown inFIG. 7 was constructed by incorporating the information rewriting unit130 comprising the fixedly disposed electric field applying means andthe heating means into a known automatic train ticket examiningapparatus. The electric field applying device including the charger 131and the grounding electrodes (grounding rollers) 132 was used forerasing information from the rewritable displaying portion 3, and theheating portion including the thermal head 133 was used for recordinginformation on the rewritable displaying portion 3. The electric fieldapplying device and the heating device were disposed on one side of thepassage along which the ticket is conveyed.

The charger 131 and the grounding electrodes (grounding rollers) 132 ofthe electric field applying device were formed in such sizes that anelectric field can be applied to the ticket 1 across the entire width ofthe ticket 1. This electric field applying device is of a combinedsystem of a charging system and an electrode system in principle or of acombined system of a noncontact system and a contact system inarrangement, and a parallel electrode system. The the rewritabledisplaying portion 3 was charged at +5 kV for information erasing. Theheating device employed, as the thermal head 133, a thermal head for athermal printer. The thermal head was six dot/mm in resolution and 0.4mJ/dot in heating capacity.

EXAMPLE5

Ticket Rewriting Apparatus

A ticket rewriting apparatus in Example 5 was substantially the same inconstruction as the ticket rewriting apparatus in Example 4, except thatthe former was provided with an information rewriting unit 130 includingan electric field applying device of an electrode system. Theinformation rewriting unit 130 is of a combined system of an electrodesystem in principle or a contact system in arrangement, and a parallelelectrode system.

The electric field applying device was provided with two electroderollers 132 of 60 mm in length and 10 mm in diameter capable of beingcontact with one surface of the ticket 1 delivered thereto across theentire width of the same. The electrode rollers 132 were disposedadjacently at an interval of 12 mm between the axes thereof. Thepotential of one of the electrode rollers 132 was +400 V and that of theother was 0 V (grounding electrode).

Results of Rewriting Operation

Tickets in Examples 1, 2 and 3 were subject to an information rewritingprocess on the ticket rewriting apparatus 100 in Example 4 forperformance tests. The PDLC film 31 withstood 1000 rewriting cycles.Thus, the commuter ticket withstood 1000 rewriting cycles and the storedfare card withstood 5000 rewriting cycles.

As is apparent from the foregoing description, since the ticket of thepresent invention is provided with the information recording portion onwhich information can be recorded by magnetic recording or the like, andthe rewritable displaying portion including a reversible displayingelement to which visible information can be written and from whichvisible information can be erased, and both heat and an electric fieldare used for writing and erasing, respectively, the dishonest alterationof the information written to the rewritable displaying device isdifficult. Accordingly, the rewritable displaying portion is able todisplay information with high reliability and has an excellent effect inpreventing the dishonest use of the ticket to steal a train ride. Sincea ticket is used to gain admission to transport facilities at thestarting station and a commuter ticket is used to gain admission toleave transportation facilities at the destination when dishonestlyusing the commuter ticket to steal a train ride, it is effective todisplay the history of conditions of use when giving admission to thetransport facilities in preventing such dishonest use of the commuterticket.

Since the information written an the rewritable displaying device iserased by the agency of an electric field, a voltage not less than apredetermined voltage must be applied to the rewritable displayingportion in a prescribed mode to erase the written information. Suchinformation erasing conditions can not be achieved naturally. Therefore,the natural fading of information in a hot environment, which is liableto occur with information that is to be erased by heat, will not occur,and hence information can be displayed with high reliability.

Since the reversible displaying element of the rewritable displayingportion comprises the PDLC film, the ticket has a high durability.

Since the liquid crystal phase of the PDLC film of the rewritabledisplaying portion contains the dichroic dye to use a guest-host effectfor displaying, information can be displayed in an improved visibility.

Since the magnetic recording layer of the information recording devicerecords invisible information, the ticket rewriting apparatus of thepresent invention can be designed through the modification of variousconventional automatic ticket examining apparatuses designed to examinemagnetic tickets, and hence the ticket rewriting apparatus of thepresent invention can easily and widely be applied to practical uses.

Since the ticket rewriting apparatus of the present invention usesdifferent means, i.e., heat and an electric field, or an electric fieldand heat for information recording and information erasing,respectively, the heating means and the electric field applying meanscan be disposed close to each other, which enables the miniaturizationof the ticket rewriting apparatus and rapid information rewriting.

The use of an electric field for erasing information recorded on therewritable displaying portion and heat for recording information on therewritable displaying portion is highly practical.

Since the ticket rewriting apparatus is provided with therecording-reading-erasing means for recording information on, readinginformation from and erasing information from the information recordingportion, information can be recorded on both the information recordingportion and the rewritable displaying portion and information can beerased from both the information recording portion and the rewritabledisplaying device.

Since the grounding electrodes of the electric field applying portionserves also as the magnetic head of the recording-reading-erasing meansfor the information recording device including the magnetic recordinglayer, the ticket rewriting apparatus can further be miniaturized andfurther rapid processing is possible.

I claim:
 1. A ticket comprising:a base; an information recording portionprovided on the base for recording invisible information; and arewritable displaying portion provided on the base for repeated visibleinformation recording and erasing; wherein said rewritable displayingportion includes a reversible displaying element that is changed from arecording state to an erasing state by an electric field and that ischanged from an erasing state to a recording state by heat.
 2. Theticket according to claim 1, whereinthe reversible displaying element ofthe ticket includes a polymer dispersed liquid crystal film.
 3. Theticket according to claim 2, whereina liquid crystal phase of thepolymer dispersed liquid crystal film contains a dichroic dye thatassumes by operation of one of said electric field and heat a displayingstate by guest-host effect.
 4. The ticket according to claim 2,whereinthe reversible displaying element further comprises a conductivelayer underlying the polymer dispersed liquid crystal film, and aprotective layer overlying the polymer dispersed liquid crystal film. 5.The ticket according to any one of claims 1, whereinthe informationrecording portion comprises a magnetic recording layer.
 6. The ticketaccording to claim 1, whereinthe information recording portion is formedon one of the surfaces of the base, and the rewritable displayingportion is formed on the other surface of the base.
 7. The ticketaccording to claim 6, whereinthe information recording portion is formedover the entire area of said one of the surfaces of the base, and therewritable displaying portion is formed over a portion of said othersurface of the base.
 8. A ticket rewriting apparatus for writinginformation on and erasing information written on a ticket comprising: aticket having said base; an information recording portion provided onthe base for recording invisible information; and a rewritabledisplaying portion provided on the base for repeated visible informationrecording and erasing;wherein said rewritable displaying portionincludes a reversible displaying element that is changed from arecording state to an erasing state by an electric field and that ischanged from an erasing state to a recording state by heat; said ticketrewriting apparatus further comprising an electric field applying meansfor applying an electric field to said rewritable displaying portion tochange the recording state of said rewritable displaying portion to theerasing state; and a heating means for applying heat to said rewritabledisplaying portion to change the erasing state of said reversibledisplaying portion to the recording state.
 9. The ticket rewritingapparatus according to claim 8, whereinthe electric field applying meanssets the rewritable displaying portion in the erasing state, and theheating means sets the rewritable displaying portion in the recordingstate.
 10. The ticket rewriting apparatus according to claim 8, furthercomprising:a recording-reading-erasing means for recording informationon, reading information from and erasing information from theinformation recording portion.
 11. The ticket rewriting apparatusaccording to claim 10, whereinthe electric field applying means haselectrodes to be brought into contact with the surface of the ticket tocharge the ticket at a ground potential, and the electrodes serve alsoas the recording-reading-erasing means for recording information on,reading information from and erasing information from the informationrecording portion.